A Closer Look At The ‘Kimura Trap’ System By David Avellan

When it comes to the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I wouldn’t say that I’m a “purist” who believes everything should be done the traditional way.I’m more than aware of the culture in which our sport is founded upon, yet there is a constant changing of the tides.

As a fan of change, I embrace the new moves and techniques that we find on a day to day basis.Anyway to enhance our game is always welcomed in my book.

That’s why when I came across the Kimura Trap system by David Avellan, I was excited yet skeptical when I began watching a few different segments of the project.

The basis of the series is that all of the sequences begin with the kimura lock setup, from there, almost anything can be executed.However, there were a few things I was unsure of heading into it.

Always willing to learn and keeping an open mind when it comes to new techniques and tactics, I continued watching, anxious to see how David would deliver on these out of the box strategies.

What I got was something fresh, new and exciting.The “left field” approach worked well and Avellan didn’t disappoint when it came to these setups.

Utilizing The Kimura Lock To Defend Takedowns

A part of everybody’s Jiu Jitsu game that should always be trained—at least, in my opinion—is the takedown defense.It’s easy to get caught up in the ground game, given the majority of our sport is based there, however, every match and fight begins standing on the feet, and if you are unable to get it where you want, which should be on the mat, then you’re in for a long few minutes.

Having studied plenty of takedown defenses over the years, I heard about a unique approach that David goes over in this series.Unsure of what to expect, I was confused how one could stifle a takedown by using the kimura lock setup.

Yet, when I watched the breakdown of the move, everything became much clearer and I found myself feverishly jotting down notes.

The approach is rather simple, really: our opponent shoots in for a single leg take down.As they have your leg, you’ll want to stuff their head downward and place your chest along their back.From here, apply the kimura lock, and then hook their leg with yours.Lastly, as David puts it, you’ll want to do a one-legged squat for the finish.

The clarity at which David explains these unique tactics is what made them seem very applicable and realistic to me.Normally, I tend to shrug my shoulders and keep going about my day when I hear about a unique technique; however, Avellan sold me on how you can use the kimura lock setup as a practical means to defending the single leg takedown.[2]

Grappling “Outside Of The Box”

Right when I thought that defending the takedown with the kimura lock setup was unique enough, Avellan then delivers a sequence that left me doubting myself even more for question if such unique moves could work!

After going over the intricacies of defending the takedown, Avellan offers you a nice technique[3] that will be sure to leave your opponents on their heels—well, their back, but you get the point—given the circumstances of the setup!

The setup works directly with the takedown mentioned above.The initial sequence starts with a takedown attempt, where we are able to defend against it by using the kimura lock setup, and scoring our reversal of the takedown.

The clarity at which David explains helps the practicality of this move come to life.As our opponent tries their best to get free by likely turning into us, they will offer some space that allows us to slide our bottom knee to the base of their spine.

With our hips in place, we then kick our other leg over and hook their opposite leg.The next step is vital, as Avellan explains, we’ll want to switch the grip of our hands on their wrist, while swimming over and bringing our top arm around their neck as if we were going for a rear naked choke hold.Now we simply lean back, freeing our bottom leg, allowing us to get our second hook in as we finish the hold.

I truly enjoyed the unique strategies employed by Avellan in this series.As I stated earlier, I was skeptical about a few certain things in this series such as the choke hold and take down defense, but after seeing how David executes these moves, I was thoroughly impressed.

Unique Yet Effective Teaching Methods

To be quite honest with you, going into some of these sections, I was very skeptical to say the very least.While I was a firm believer about the kimura lock and the various setups it provides going into this series, I wasn’t quite sure how it would work when trying to defend takedowns or even go for a choke hold!

However, once I gave it a shot and watched the prior segments more in-depth, I was really impressed by the techniques.

It’s easy for our minds to get set in our ways that you can’t do certain things from specific setups because it’s too “outside of the box” and we tend to scoff at it.While I was doing just that, I no longer will!

These are very practical moves you can use by simply engaging the sequences with the kimura lock!With clear cut instructions the whole way through, the more I listened to Avellan speak about the technique, the more it all made sense.

Before long, I found myself gazing at my computer screen nodding my head in agreement, almost as if I never doubted these moves!All in all, I walked away very impressed, especially with the type of setups I never deemed “realistic” before watching the Kimura Trap series.